NATIONAL YOUNGARTS FOUNDATION SECOND ANNUAL YOUNGARTS AWARENESS DAY THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

The National YoungArts Foundation’s (YoungArts) second annual YoungArts Awareness Day, a nationwide initiative to encourage emerging artists to pursue their dreams of becoming professional artists, will take place on September 24, 2015. In Miami, where YoungArts is headquartered, an interactive installation of new work by Daniel Arsham (1999 YoungArts Winner in Visual Arts) curated by the most recently appointed Director of Perez Art Museum Miami, Franklin Sirmans, will open to the public in conjunction with a YoungArts Salon at Ted’s. Sponsored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Salon will feature Arsham in person and Sirmans via videoconference in conversation about the exhibition.

While YoungArts Awareness Day looks toward inspiring the future, Arsham will be transporting audiences to another time through a wholly immersive and evolving exhibition. The Miami native’s installation will transform the YoungArts Gallery by covering the first floor’s walls with black chalkboard paint and peppering nearly 2,000 objects made of chalk on pedestals and on the floor throughout the space. In signature Arsham style, these objects will represent body parts, such as hands and faces, as well as outmoded communication devices including cameras, telephones, video game controllers, and computers.

On view through December 11, visitors of all ages are encouraged to write, draw and make their markings on the walls of the gallery, with the chalk casts progressively disappearing throughout the duration of the show. Epitomizing many of the prevalent themes and motifs in Arsham’s work—including the interplay of archaeology and architecture, eroding environments overtaken by nature, and the blurred line between the real and imagined—the exhibition will provide visitors with a unique experience as actors and creators over a couple months’ time.

YoungArts Awareness Day aims to underscore the opportunities available to emerging artists (ages 15-18 or in high school grades 10-12) through the organization that provides them with life-changing experiences to help ensure they are supported in their pursuit of careers in the arts. For over 34 years, YoungArts has supported tens of thousands of artists who have become successful leaders in their fields, including Doug Aitken, Conrad Tao, Desmond Richardson and Kerry Washington. Applications to become a part of the 35th Anniversary Class of YoungArts Winners are available at youngarts.org/apply through October 16, 2015.

Other YoungArts Awareness Day celebrations include contemporaneous events featuring YoungArts alumni in New York and Los Angeles (for more information, please click here).

WHO:

Daniel Arsham, visual artist (1999 YoungArts Winner in Visual Arts)

Franklin Sirmans, Perez Art Museum Miami director (via videoconference)

For interviews, please contact dcarrington@youngarts.org / 305-377-1140.

WHEN, WHERE & TICKETS:

Thursday, September 24, 2015

YoungArts Salon Series: Daniel Arsham and Franklin Sirmans in Conversation